Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Slayerhero90]

As you've probably noticed, most of my posts in the rage, happy, WTF, and sad threads have recently had to do with sleep. Tuesday, last week, I decided to skip a night of sleep to see how long I could go without sleep. I made it roughly 25 hours and 15 minutes. After waking up at six-ish, I was able to fall asleep at a normal time that Wednesday night. However, after I woke up on Thursday, I ended up unable to sleep that night. Slept for about eight hours, starting at nine AM that Friday, then for four, starting at noon, Saturday.

Yesterday, I fell asleep at nine-thirty AM and woke up at seven-thirty PM. This pissed me off. Daytime is when I get the most of my meager social interaction, and while cutting part of it off is fine by me, skipping it entirely is not. So I decided to try to sleep at a normal time. I had an hour to an hour and a half before waking up, unable to get back to sleep.

Please, do you people have any advise on how to readjust to a normal sleeping schedule? What amounts to roughly five days feels like a week and a half. I feel drained, aggravated, and filled with shame. I lash out at family at the slightest provocation or shut myself in my own room for hours at a time because I want to be left alone. If not either of those, I just sit there and stare blankly at something for like five minutes before realizing that I'm supposed to be doing something and promptly switching to something else to stare at.

Help me. :c

[Vector]

Sweaty exercise.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

You could also force yourself into a situation where sleep is impossible. I once stayed up for 36 hours when I didn't sleep the night before going on a rollercoaster spree.*

^{_{*Not recommended for those with heart damage.}}

[Darkmere]

+1 to doing strenuous things. Failing that, just don't sleep again until it's time for your normally scheduled sleep. Willpower and all that. Even if you can only get an hour or two nap, getting some part of your schedule back to normal will help.

Also... this is said jokingly most of the time, but I'm mostly serious: Try and watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. It could be 2 in the afternoon and I could drink a pot of coffee first... still not gonna make it 10 minutes before I fall asleep. Foucault's Pendulum (book) is even "better".

[Vector]

+1 to 2001 a Space Odyssey and Foucault's Pendulum.  I can attest to the soporific influences of both.

[foil]

Might be something like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_disorder

I feel i have this even tho not been diagnosed.

[LordBucket]

do you people have any advise on how to readjust to a normal sleeping schedule?

Bodies vary. Personally, exercise keeps me awake. Try melatonin.

[Slayerhero90]

Might be something like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_disorder

I feel i have this even tho not been diagnosed.

I'm not gonna diagnose myself with something I probably don't have.

do you people have any advise on how to readjust to a normal sleeping schedule?

Bodies vary. Personally, exercise keeps me awake. Try melatonin.

I don't think I'd be able to actually acquire any of that.

[ChairmanPoo]

Melatonin is over the counter so you probably won't have any problems acquiring it. It's also not very effective. Unfortunatedly, there are no magic bullets for this. Try improving your sleep hygiene for a start (go to sleep always at the same hour, don't take naps, don't oversleep, etc...).

Barring that, you can always start your own Fight Club.

[Slayerhero90]

Melatonin is over the counter so you probably won't have any problems acquiring it.

I don't think you fully understand.

I am fifteen years old.

[ChairmanPoo]

anddd....?

[XXSockXX]

If you wanna be awake during the day, just get up early, no matter how sleep-deprived you are. If you don't hear your alarm, have someone wake you up. You may have trouble falling asleep for a while, but after a a few days you should be fine.

Learning how to deal with a night of sleep missing is super-important, otherwise you will grow to hate mondays to no end later in life  .

If you're experimenting on yourself anyway, you might as well try to Reset Your Sleep Cycle With a Hunger Strike. Didn't really work for me though.

[Slayerhero90]

anddd....?

I don't think the local Albertsons pharmacist is gonna look at a pale and somewhat scary-lookin' kid and decide "Hey! Let's give him some drugs!"

If you wanna be awake during the day, just get up early, no matter how sleep-deprived you are. If you don't hear your alarm, have someone wake you up. You may have trouble falling asleep for a while, but after a few days you should be fine.

I can't quite wake up early if I'm not asleep in the first place. I'm getting this feeling you didn't read the whole post.

I am just fine with waking up at 1 PM, since that's normal for me. Any longer than that, though, and I get irritable.

I also refuse to use my alarm clock because 1: I know how to operate it besides turning it on and off, and 2: it makes the worst noise I've ever heard.

Learning how to deal with a night of sleep missing is super-important, otherwise you will grow to hate mondays to no end later in life  .

I've also stayed up till about seven in the morning once and dealt with that just fine despite the sun being out when I was told to go to bed. I've not got total inexperience.

If you're experimenting on yourself anyway, you might as well try to Reset Your Sleep Cycle With a Hunger Strike. Didn't really work for me though.

Considering I still weigh under a hundred pounds, I don't believe starvation is recommended for me.

[gimlet]

Why would you even talk to the pharmacist?  "OTC" means it's sitting out on the shelves, just pick it up and pay at the cashier.

And what works best for me to get back on track:  Don't give in to sleeping before the time you want to set as your sleep time.  Stay up the whole day, painful as it will be.  If you're REALLY having trouble, go out for a walk, do something active so you can't drop off. ***  Agree with get some exercise, just don't do it 1 or 2 hours before sleep - use that time to do quiet stuff, wind down, read, relax.   It helps not to eat too late or drink caffeine AT ALL in the late afternoon/evening. 

*** - If you're dead dead tired, OK take a nap for a half hour or so,  hour MAX, but set an alarm so you don't sleep 8 hours again.  Yeah you'll still be tired when you get up, but GET UP and get moving.

The other thing is, don't lock yourself into a schedule where you keep accruing a sleep deficit, ie stay up later and later and never catch up - you will feel crappier and crappier until days feel like torture and every thought is fuzzy and you won't feel like doing anything.  Figure out how much sleep YOU need to keep feeling decent, and make sure you get it.  If that means getting to bed earlier and skipping all the cool stuff that's going on after midnight, DO IT (at least most of the time).  This will take some experimentation, for me it takes a good couple of weeks to settle into a schedule and know if its sustainable.

[XXSockXX]

I can't quite wake up early if I'm not asleep in the first place. I'm getting this feeling you didn't read the whole post.

I did read the whole post. I didn't say it was easy  . Just get up at the same time every day and don't sleep before it's late evening. If you can't sleep, skip a night. Your body needs a bit of time to re-adjust itself, and being irritable sadly is a side-effect you'll have to deal with.
1PM is normal? So no school I guess. Then prepare for more of this after summer.

I've also stayed up till about seven in the morning once and dealt with that just fine despite the sun being out when I was told to go to bed. I've not got total inexperience.

Yeah, well. Later no one will tell you to go to bed, but you might have to start working at 8 monday morning, even if you just came home from that short drink you went to get friday evening...

Considering I still weigh under a hundred pounds, I don't believe starvation is recommended for me.

It isn't about starvation  . Anyway, I was just curious if it works. Had too irregular sleeping and eating habits when I tried it.